The Classification Review Board’s decision to refuse classification for Children’s Island, handed down in October but not reported until now, has echoes of the 2008 controversy over Bill Henson’s photographs of naked children.

Titled Barnens ö in Swedish, the arthouse film focuses on an 11-year old boy grappling with the onset of puberty and contains scenes in which the boy is naked. It won Sweden’s most prestigious film prize, the Guldbagge, when it was released in 1980 and was Sweden’s official selection for the 54th Academy Awards. The film was directed by Kay Pollak, who later won acclaim for his box office hit As it is in Heaven.

Fairfax Media has not found any evidence of the film being refused classification in other countries.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority referred it to the Australian Classification Board last year after receiving a complaint.

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The classification board originally gave the film an R18+ rating, but this decision was overturned on appeal following an application by the federal police.

In their ruling, three Classification Review Board members found that a 49-second sequence depicting the boy masturbating was likely to cause offence to a reasonable adult.

The boy’s erect penis is clearly shown in a three-second close-up.

‘‘The review board considered that although the scene was relevant to the story and was brief in duration it is still the depiction of actual sexual activity by a minor and is not justified by context,’’ the members wrote in their decision.

The review board found that other scenes — including of a boy lying naked in the bath and posing nude in front of a mirror wearing a wig — were justified by their context.

Anyone buying, selling or showing the film publicly will now face fines of up to $275,000 and a maximum 10 years’ jail. In Western Australia and parts of the Northern Territory, possessing the film would constitute a criminal offence.

Free-speech advocate Chris Berg, a research fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs, said: ‘‘It is a bizarre and rather extraordinary overreach by the AFP to go to the Classification Review Board to censor movies.

‘‘If they believe this is genuine child pornography they should contact their state colleagues and ask them to pursue it. If they are just concerned about offence, then that is none of their business. It is not the AFP’s job to protect people from taking offence.’’

An AFP spokesperson said: ''The film Barnens ö was first encountered by AFP officers in 2009 following a search warrant conducted in Sydney. The DVD was suspected of being illegally imported from overseas.

''While it is rare for the AFP to seek reviews of classification decisions, the AFP was concerned in this case that the movie contained child exploitation material. The AFP will continue to work with local and international law enforcement partners to detect, disrupt and bring to justice those who seek to produce, share and access child exploitation material.''

The spokesperson said two child exploitation material experts provided submissions to the Classification Review board.